Marion’s story- part two: Celebrating National Youth Day with hopes for the future for autistic kids
"As an autistic parent I'm really hoping that my child grows up, confident, secure, better able to advocate for themselves."
“I think it’s lovely being able to see my son doing a lot of similar things to me, and being able to give him a level of understanding in why he is doing it and a level of acceptance. So many autistic adults grew up with family members saying, “that’s not too noisy”, “that’s not too spicy, just eat your food.” “Why can’t you just? Why can’t you just? Why can’t you just?”
Knowing and accepting that I’m autistic means that it’s easier to connect and understand where he comes from. Non autistic parents can do that too, but one of the handy things that there is about being an autistic parent is that you can say to your child, “I get it. I feel this way as well.” “Is this too noisy for you? Because it’s too noisy for me.”
We can also share autistic joy together. “You’re excited there is a new book by your favourite author? I love that too!” Our expressions of joy and happiness can sometimes be perceived as “too much” by some, but not in a household of people who embrace their identity.
I think that that helps to give a level of validation and reassurance that a lot of us didn’t have growing up. I’m really hoping that those of us who are autistic parents to autistic kids can raise kids who are going to feel an awful lot more confident about their identity.
Some of the autistic kids that I know get annoyed if there is somebody in their school who doesn’t know that they’re autistic because, “why don’t they know that I’m autistic? Everyone should know”
As an autistic parent I’m really hoping that my child grows up, confident, secure, better able to advocate for themselves. And knowing who they are because that’s something that many autistic people of my generation generally didn’t have growing up. What I really want to see for this generation of autistic kids that are growing up now is for them to have that validation, so that they feel happy and confident in who they are.”
Read part one of Marion’s story.
Read more Humans of Scotland stories.
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